Apollo 13 came in my mailbox today. The case is slighly smaller than a normal DVD case. It's about 90% as high, roughly same width and a little skinner.

Best Buy in Ottawa (east) is showing the Toshiba 'in stock' now, but right above that the online availability is May5th......?

http://www.bestbuy.ca/catalog/proddetail.asp?logon=&langid=EN&sku_id=0926INGFS10071898&catid=20208

Future Shop the same:

http://www.futureshop.ca/catalog/proddetail.asp?logon=&langid=EN&sku_id=0665000FS10071898&catid=24136

I have talked with people at both FS and BB and they appear to be sticking with the street date at Toshiba explicit request. I think they are trying to avoid the mismanaged role out in the US.

I noticed neither Best Buy or Future Shop list the XA1. Are we to get this model in Canada?

I went to BB in Markham on Tuesday. Had the Toshiba on display running and on the shelf with no price. Last Samurai, Phantom and Million Dollar Baby were in the New Releases DVD section all priced at 31 dollars. I purchased the player and Phantom. First impression: The slowest piece of gear I have ever used...easily took 1.5-2mins for power on>disc in tray>picture from disc on screen. Once playing....picture over HDMI and component was awesome.....easily the best picture I have ever seen on my display. Playback of SD-DVDs was a little lacking compared to other players I have auditioned. I am undecided as to weather or not I am going to keep or return this unit......the incredibly slow speed and lack of software selection right now are making me want to wait for a 2nd gen player.....will post thoughts on audio later this week....

I'm surprised BB sold it to you. They are suppose to wait until Friday. I heard others complaing about the startup. Hopefully a firmware update will fix this.

Titles are really expensive in Canada (other than Amazon.ca).

I went to BB in Markham on Tuesday. Had the Toshiba on display running and on the shelf with no price. Last Samurai, Phantom and Million Dollar Baby were in the New Releases DVD section all priced at 31 dollars. I purchased the player and Phantom. First impression: The slowest piece of gear I have ever used...easily took 1.5-2mins for power on>disc in tray>picture from disc on screen.

The player is more like a computer. Does your computer start much quicker? And you find start up time irritating? Unacceptable? And why exactly is that?

Once playing....picture over HDMI and component was awesome.....easily the best picture I have ever seen on my display. Playback of SD-DVDs was a little lacking compared to other players I have auditioned. I am undecided as to weather or not I am going to keep or return this unit......the incredibly slow speed and lack of software selection right now are making me want to wait for a 2nd gen player.....will post thoughts on audio later this week....

Most owners find the player exceptional good as an up scaler of SD DVD comparing it to an Oppo. What upconverting player are you comparing this with? And I trust you are using the HDMI output and 1080i resolution in the player for Upconverting...(does not upconvert with Component).

james99.....there was one unit new in the box on the shelf....i picked it up, brought it to the counter and paid....I did my best not to talk to any HT staff in the process.

mfabien.....I find the start up time unacceptable because I did not buy a computer; I bought a piece of HT gear.....I do not want to stand in front of the player for upwards of 30 seconds just to get the disc in the machine...I just timed the boot on my PC: 1 min 12 seconds. When I push the open button on any disc player I would like to see the tray pop out within 10 seconds....the toshiba takes upwards of 30 seconds.....what can I say...I think this is brutally slow for a piece of HT gear.

I am going to return this unit and either wait for a 2nd gen machine....or maybe a computer drive.....anyone looking for an open copy of Phantom send me a pm

Perhaps BB didn't have it flagged. I almost picked one up on Monday at FS but the sales guy couldn't sell it to me.

I still think a firmware fix will solve your problems, eventually.

My BB pre-order has changed status from "Not Yet Shippable" to "Shippable"
With luck it will leave warehouse tomorrow and arrive on Friday.
The anticipation grows!

Same here. Earlier today it stated Not Yet Shippable. Since you can still cancel it, it's not being packaged yet.

Did you pre-order it when they had the 10% off?

Did you pre-order it when they had the 10% off?
Yes I pre-ordered with the 10%.
I am really hoping to have this hooked up this weekend.
The cables I ordered from Monoprice (for 6CH analog) came in today so I am absolutely ready.

Check your status again.

It should say: Releasable

Check your status again.
It should say: Releasable
You are absolutely right! It is "Releasable" now. I imagine this thread will get more action starting this weekend as the players are finally unleashed on the Canuck market.

Yes, looking forward to 'Houston we have a problem'.

I just noticed that my VISA card was dinged.

Status has changed to: Released

Mine is showing released as well:), But now I am kicking my self for not going for the express shipping option. I probably won't receive mine until the end of next week.:(

I don't know if you've seen this...

http://geekswithblogs.net/lorint/archive/2006/04/21/75795.aspx

Ya, it was mentioned in another thread. Somebody had too much time on their hands.

I went into my BB order history and noticed that the item is usally picked up late afternoon (between 5-6pm Eastern) and goes out for delivery the next day (for folks who live in S. Ontario).

So, if history repeats itself the status should change to shipped within the next 3 hours and be here tomorrow.

Just came back from Best Buy in Markham, and for those interested they had an open box A1 item on the shelf for $629.
Darthpaul, did you return yours?